In my opinion, Tambu was neither seduced nor brainwashed by the "Englishness". Tambu had grown up in an African society whereby women were fighting for the effects of patriarchal traditions in the history of their culture. Women in Tambu's society struggled to find their voices in this male dominated world. Tambu did not want to be like one of these African women, being trapped in traditional roles and could be nothing more but just a good housewife. She realised at a very young age that perhaps the "Englishness" was her only escape route to a better life. A life that has no more poverty and women are able to break out of their traditional roles. Therefore, she was so determined to pursue this "Englishness" that she would never ever give up her dream no matter how harsh things had turned out for her. Apart from that, she was also able to see how differently things were for the English educated people like Nhamo and Babamukuru. Both of them were highly respected and had the power to make people listen to them. She wished to be one of them and knew very clearly that her life could definitely be made better if she was like one of them. This made her strive even harder for education. Hence, I conclude that Tambu was not seduced or brainwashed by the "Englishness". After all, this is the road Tambu had chosen for herself voluntarily, a road that she assumed will promise her well-being, dignity and freedom.

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..."Pass the Brainwash Please, On Second Thought "
"Quietly, unobtrusively and extremely fitfully, something in my mind began to assert itself, to question things, and to refuse to be brainwashed " The main character, Tambudzai, in the novel NervousConditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga, is determined to get a white education without losing her native tongue and ways. However this proves to be more difficult that she would expect and seeds that are planted in her mind by the whites begin to take shape, and greatly affect her existence. I will begin by giving an overview of the story leading up to the point where Tambu heads off to begin her education at the missionary school. Next I show how Tambu has already been brainwashed into believing that the white's educational system is better than her own. Following I will discuss the influences that Tambu had to overcome in order to refuse to be brainwashed further. Finally I will give exam to the insight that Tambu's story offers on the situation of a person in her position.
Tambu, as we shall call her, wants very badly to attain an education. Since her brother is the oldest and male he is given the first opportunity to attain an education. Because Tambu is a female it is thought by her family that attaining an education would not benefit her family, but some other man outside of her family, because she will marry, therefore she is not given an opportunity to be educated. Tambu fights this...

...ervous conditions themesThemes
The Pervasiveness of Gender Inequality
Tambu was born a girl and thus faces a fundamental disadvantage, since traditional African social practice dictates that the oldest male child is deemed the future head of the family. All of the family’s resources are poured into developing his abilities and preparing him to lead and provide for his clan. When Nhamo dies, the tragedy is all the more profound since no boy exists to take his place. Tambu steps into the role of future provider, yet she is saddled with the prejudices and limitations that shackled most African girls of her generation. Her fight for an education and a better life is compounded by her gender. Gender inequality and sexual discrimination form the backdrop of all of the female characters’ lives. In the novel, inequality is as infectious as disease, a crippling attitude that kills ambition, crushes women’s spirits, and discourages them from supporting and rallying future generations and other female relatives.
The Influence of Colonialism
The essential action of the novel involves Tambu’s experiences in a Western-style educational setting, and the mission school both provides and represents privileged opportunity and enlightenment. Despite Ma’Shingayi’s strong objections, Tambu knows the only hope she has of lifting her family out of poverty lies in education. However, the mission school poses threats, as well: Western institutions and systems of thought may...

...NervousConditions Summary
NervousConditions Summary
The narrator, Tambudzai, Tambu for short, begins this story at the end: "I was not sorry when my brother died." That happened in the year 1968, and the first chapter sets the context for that event. In anecdotal style, Tambu looks back at the year 1965, when her father decided that Nhamo, Tambu's older brother, would go to the mission school and live with Babamukuru, Tambu's uncle. She remembers how her father was always grateful for the generosity of his brother, who had educated himself and thus found financial success. He and his wife, Maiguru, moved to England with their children,Nyasha and Chido, for five years. Without Babamukuru's generosity, the narrator's family struggled financially.
Mr. Matimba, Tambu's teacher, advises her to sell the maize she grows in her garden to the Whites in town. They end up taking a handout from a white couple. Under Mr. Matimba's advice, Tambu gives the money to the school headmaster to keep safe, so that she can use it to pay her school fees for the next few years. Despite her father's protests and attempts to get the money for himself, the headmaster keeps the money and uses it to help Tambu in her education.
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...NervousConditions
The choice to resist or comply in situations greatly affects the success and personal relationships of Tambu and Nyasha throughout the NervousConditions. Tambu arrives at her uncle’s school initially embracing her education and passion for learning, while there she begins to notice the relationships that existed between the settlers and native, males and females in society. Nyasha understood how awful these relationships were as a young girl. She suffers from severe depression and an eating disorder while trying to cope with and understand these relationships. There are many different decisions made with a variety of strategies that either helps them advance or causes them to fall victim to the controls of colonial society.
An educated woman was very uncommon in Zimbabwe during the 1980’s. Tambu decided to pursue her education against her mothers will. You notice the generation gap when her mother says ‘’Can you cook books and feed them to your husband? Stay at home with you mother. Learn to cook, clean and grow vegetables’’(Ma Shingayi, 15). She decided not to follow the traditional path of women and began selling corn at the market with her teacher to pay for her schooling. Tambu decided to resist fait at a very young age and continued not listening to her family throughout the novel. She felt weighed down by the burdens of womanhood and would not tolerate settling into that...

...NervousConditions Summary and Analysis
by Tsitsi Dangarembga
Chapters 1 and 2
Summary
The narrator, Tambudzai, Tambu for short, begins this story at the end: "I was not sorry when my brother died." That happened in the year 1968, and the first chapter sets the context for that event. Nhamo, Tambu's brother, is introduced as proud; he is too proud to walk home from school, although Tambu sees the walk as holding endless possibilities for inspiration. Thus, their contrasting outlooks on life are introduced.
In anecdotal style, Tambu looks back at the year 1965, when her father decided that Nhamo would go to the mission school and live with Babamukuru, Tambu's uncle. She remembers how her father was always grateful for the generosity of his brother, who had educated himself and thus found financial success. After living with his uncle for a few years, Nhamo became embarrassed by "all this poverty, in a way that it had not done before."
Chapter 2 continues Tambu's memories of how her brother became educated in place of her; he began school when he turned seven. She also remembers when Babamukuru went to England, when she was only five years old. He and his wife, Maiguru, moved there with their children, Nyasha and Chido for five years. Without Babamukuru's generosity, the narrator's family struggled and her mother was forced to sell boil eggs to passengers at the bus terminus. Tambu did not understand why they were only concerned with...

...Do you see what they’ve done? They’ve taken us away. Lucia. Taksure. All of us. They’ve deprived you of you, him of him, ourselves of each other. We’re groveling. Lucia for a job, Jeremiah for money. Daddy grovels to them. We grovel to him.” (Dangarembga, Chapter 10)
This statement made by Nyasha illustrates the indirect way in which the colonizers take control of the colonized, in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s NervousConditions. Therefore, Babamukuru’s family can be seen as a microcosmic unit of the colonized society as a whole. It is through his family we are able to see the impact of colonization on the colonized people. This is essentially exhibited by Babamukuru, who is the mimic man. “The mimic man Represents a by product of colonial civilization, not an entity separate from the colonial sphere,” (Yang, 1999). Thereby, Babamukuru is a product of Western education and Western means of success. Moreover, it is also illustrated through Nyasha’s eating disorder. Nyasha represents the very few who reject the system and ultimately pays the price. Lastly, through Tambu, we are able to see the majority of the people who are brainwashed by the system and slowly begin to forget their roots.
They thought he was a good boy, cultivatable, in the way that land is, to yield harvests that sustain the cultivator (Dangarembga, Chapter 2)
This statement made by Tambu, demonstrates how Babamukuru ultimately benefits the cultivators, in this case the...

...NervousConditions is concerned with women who live in a traditional African society in Zimbabwe (former Rhodesia), who struggle to find their place in the patriarchal system and who search for their independence. Each female protagonist in the novel finds her own way of dealing with her situation; however, this essay focuses on two characters-Tambu and Nyasha whose response to the male power is very different. While Tambu escapes from the environment of inequality in order to seek her liberation, Nyasha chooses to resist the patriarchy but her rebellion against her father ends up tragically as she suffers from the nervousconditions.
The theme of female struggle against male dominancy is presented throughout the novel and the narrator, Tambu, categorizes the women right at the beginning: “[...] my story is not after all about death, but about my escape and Lucia’s; about my mother’s and Maiguru's entrapment; and about Nyasha’s rebellion ( Nyasha, far-minded and isolated, my uncle’s daughter, whose rebellion may not in the end have been successful” (1). The two cousins, Tambu and Nyasha, are almost the same age but they have been raised in very different environments. While Nyasha was getting her primary education in England effortlessly, Tambu fought against her father, brother and the whole system in order to study at school. The experiences they have from childhood have shaped their characters so even when they...